If you look at the box, the outside sleeve has the word iPod in Apples Garamond serif typeface. On the top you see the inner box with the apple logo in white. On the bottom there is a sticker with part number and serial number. The colors of the sleeve are white, black and gray and the clamshell box that holds the iPod and accessories is silver. There is NO text about the hard drive size, NO orange color, NO text about Mac or Windows and most definitely NO pictures of artists.

So it begins

Say hello to iPod

What is in the box

Ultra Portable

Top

Bottom

How the inner box should sit in the sleeve

The inside compartment is made of white styrofoam. When you open the box up, the iPod rests in a recessed slot to the right under the silver cover flap with the text iPod in white. To the left you find an apple logo in white on the silver envelope with the CD and paperwork that covers the accessories. The iPod is wrapped in transparent cellophane plastic with the words “Don’t steal music” in english, french, german and japanese. In the slot under the iPod you find the headphones and one set of lightgray foam pieces in a sealed silver envelope. I have no source to make me absolutely sure this was the original place for the headphones in the box. To the left there are three slots for accessories. In the top left slot there was a silver paper flap to cover up the empty slot. My guess is that this slot was used for different pluggs to the power adapter when sold in other parts of the world, but I haven’t been able to confirm this. The lower left slot is for the power adapter which was also wrapped in transparent cellophane. In the right slot you found the FireWire cable. It was neatly wrapped in a figure eight and hold together with a white plastic coated metal wire. It was also wrapped in thin plastic with a perforation to make it easy to tear open. Both ends of the cable was also covered in thin transparent plastic sleeves.

A round sticker as a seal

It opens like a clam shell

iPod to the right

Earbuds under the iPod

Power adapter and FireWire cable

Inside the envelope

My guess is that less than 200 000 iPods were made and sold worldwide of the first generation. From November 10 to December 31 roughly 125 000 units were shipped. And I know of less than 10 pieces in the world that are unopened and still shrink wrapped from the factory in Taiwan. A piece like that can easily fetch a couple of thousands dollars on ebay. A used iPod in good condition with the original box (matching serial numbers) and the original accessories could also be interesting to many collectors. Do not expect to become millionaires like some sellers though. Thats just ridiculous.

One can say that the third iPod model acted as a catalyst to transform the iPod from being a MP3 music player into becoming an icon. This new version, the fourth generation, was designed to attract new customers rather than old ones wanting to upgrade. July 19, 2004 Apple released the fourth generation iPod. This iPod was a mix of the third generation iPod and the first generation Mini. The form factor was same as the previous model, but the controls were taken from the mini. The prices on each model were dropped $100, but this time Apple didn’t include any cases or the remote. The 40GB model was shipped with a dock. The case and the remote could be bought separately for $39 each. The iPod came in two different sizes, 20GB for $299 and 40GB for $399. They begun shipping July 20. In the end of 2004 Apple had shipped six million iPods.

The sleeve had the now famous silhouettes from ad company TBWA/ Chiat/ Day on two sides and the color scheme was very bright colors. The size of the box was the same as third generation iPod. The new version iPod offered better battery life and small changes to the user interface.

August 27, 2004 Hewlett-Packard announces the iPod+HP version. This was a repacked fourth generation iPod, sold by HP with HP support and only for windows customers. HP also announces a special printer with special printable tattoos to cover the iPod.

October 26, 2004 Apple debuts iPod Photo capable of displaying photos and album art on its new color screen. It was sold in 40GB ($499) and 60GB ($599) capacities and was physically identical with the previous version. It was also shipped with an A/V cable and an iPod photo dock. In November 16 the name was changed from capitalized Photo to lowercase photo.

At the same time a Special Edition U2 iPod was announced. It was designed with a black front and a red click wheel to match the coming U2 studio album “How to dismantle an Atomic Bomb” released November 24. The band members autographs were etched to the iPods polished steel back side. Bono and the Edge attended the unveiling and performed the first track “Vertigo” from the new album. The iPod had a 20GB hard drive and was sold for $349. The first U2 iPods were shipped from Apple November 16.

February 23, 2005 the 40GB photo model was discontinued and replaced with a 30GB photo ($349). This iPod was shipped in the new small box and had only documents and CD, earbuds, ac adapter and usb 2.0 cable in the box. The original iPod was also shipped in this small box, only the 60GB iPod photo had the old bigger box and all accessories inside. Late March Apple released a small device called iPod Camera Connector, which made it possible to connect cameras directly to the iPod. The small device costed $29.

In June 28, 2005 Apple made the last update to their fourth generation iPods, both the regular model and the U2 Special Edition. Two regular models were released, 20GB at $299 and 60GB at $399. Both had color screens and could show both photos and album art. The U2 Special Edition was still 20GB but the price was reduced to $329.

The artist boxes had the new Myriad font without serifs. There were also the hard drive size printed on the outside sleeve.

The inside was exactly the same as the first generation. The word “iPod” was printed on the right paper flap with the old typeface. The paperwork inside the gray envelope was however printed with the new font. The CD with iTunes was also different from the first generation. The envelope below is not complete.

Opens like a clam

iPod to the right

Earbuds under the iPod

Instructions

Accessories

Inside the envelope

What is the deal with 1.5 generation iPod? Well, the purist collector like myself, think that this is not the original iPod. The first version of the 5 GB iPod is exactly the same as the first version 1.5 revision of the 5 GB iPod. All except from the serial. The cellophane around the iPod differs and the sleeve around the box. That’s it. Not much but still. If you want to own a “real” first generation iPod the serial number should show it was produced before week 11 2002.

I also want to make something clear. The boxes with the different artists is NOT “special edition” iPods. They are exactly the same as the regular ones, only with different sleeves. You can find them att auction sites offered as “Special edition iPods” which is not true. I have pictures of the Hendrix, Holiday, Marley and Morissette editions. These are not my pictures, but they can be found online. I have never ever seen the Davis version.

The sleeve around the box to the second generation iPod was very different from the first version. The font was changed to sans-serif Apple Myriad. The front side of the sleeve had a gray field and an orange field. In the orange field you could see the hard drive size and if the iPod was a windows or mac configuration. The inner clam shell box wasn’t silver any more, but light gray instead.

Windows model

Same thickness as generation one

Included case and remote

Full front

Gray instead of silver

A torn sticker always makes me suspicious

A torned sticker on the box masking the serial number always makes me a little suspicious. My guess is that the iPod doesn’t belong to the box. Someone had a nice box and someone else had a nice iPod. An iPod isn’t worth that much, and an iPod box isn’t worth much either, but together they are worth plenty. Or it could be a case of bad luck and a retailer putting an ugly sticker in the wrong spot. Any way I try to stay away from boxes like that.

The interior was made up by rigid transparent plastic. The wired remote was placed under the iPod to the right. I’m not sure if the earbuds were to the left or right in the box.